Safety firearm



Feb. 2 192 1;

. 1,484,671 E. S. POMEROY ,SAFETY FIREARM Filed July 18, 1922 Patented Feb. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,484,671 PATIENT "orrics.

EDWARD S. POMEROY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO SMITH AND WESSON, INCL. OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS,

CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFETY FIREARM.

Application filed m 18, 1922. Serial no. 575,779.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD 'S. POMEROY, a. citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

With firearms havingmagazines which are detachable or otherwise movable from normal position for loadinga loaded cartridge may be left in' the firing chamber after the magazine is removed, and accidents frequently occur either from the user failing to know or toremember that the firearm may yet fire a' single shot or from an accidental movement of the trigger in removing or replacing the magazine. I 1 be present invention comprises a firearm having safety means associated with the firing mechanism in such manner that the firing mechanism is rendered inoperative when the magazine is moved fro-m normal position for loading, either to a position apart from the firearm or merely to a loading position on the firearm. The safety means preferably comprises a spring actuated or other automatic stop engaged by the magazine when the magazine is .in normal position to permit the safety tobe moved to firing position but automatically movable into position to prevent firing when the magazine is removed. While the safety means may operate'upon any desired part of the firing mechanism, it is preferably assooiatedwith the sear which controls the hammer or other firing member.

As an illustration of the invention a specific application to a well-known typeof firearm is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which v Fig. 1 is a side'elevation. of the firearm, parts being removed and portion being shown in' section retracted preparatory 'to firing;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the firing mechanism'and a portion of the grip, showing the parts in firing position;

Fig. 4 is a rearelevation of the sear on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 5 is a left side elevation of a portion of the safety means;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the safety Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of F ig. 5; F ig. 7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 5; Fig. Sis a perspective view of a portion of the safety means; and

Fig. 9 is a section on line 99'of Fig. 1. The invention as illustrated in the drawings is applied to a semi-automatic pistol of the type disclosed in co-pending application Sr. No. 575,778, filed on even date herewith,

Inasmuch as the breech closure comprises no part of th presentinvention it hasbeen omitted from the drawings.

The firing mechanism comprises a hammer H, a sear S pivoted at's to the hammer, and a trigger T slidable to the rear against lug s of, the sear. A spring-pressed plunger it engages a lug s on the sear normally to urge the sear in a clockwise'direction about the pivot 8. When the hammer is cooked a shoulder on the sear restson a shoulder L mounted on the grip G, the springrpressed plunger h holding the sear in this position. When the trigger T is retractedthe sear S is pushed off the shoulder L 'and the hammer is then snapped in counter-clockwise direction about the pivot h" by the hammer spring M.

The safety means comprises a bar A longitudinally slidable, in a recess N in the grip, between the normal full-line position shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and the firing position shown in full lines in- Fig. 2, and in dotted lines in Fig. 3. With the bar A in lowermost position the lug a thereon lies behind the lower end of the sear S, thereby preventing the sear from being pushed off the shoulder .L by the trigger. hen-the bar Ais raised to firing position, the-lug a is lifted above the lower end of the scar and th firing mechanism may be moved into the firing positionshown in Fig. 3 by pulling the trigger. The safety means also comprises an actuator B slidable' to the rear from the normal position shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 9 to the firing position shown in Fig. 2. A finger piece B is provided for manually retracting the actuator, and a spring C is arranged to restore the actuator to its forward position when pressure is removed from the finger piece'B. A pin 1) on the rear end of the actuator B engages a slot a in the bar A, the slot being disposed obliquely so that the bar A is lifted when the actuator is retracted. A spring-stop D is mounted in a recess in the left-hand side of actuator B by'means of a rivet d, the spring-stop being provided with'a head 03 of somewhat greater thickness than the spring portion of the stop. When the magazine M is in normal position the spring-stop D is pressed outwardly as shown in Fig.9, and when the magazine is removed the stop springs into the position shown in Fig. 6 wherein the head d is in alinement with the shoulder g of the grip G, so that the actuator B cannot be retracted sufficiently to lift the bar A into position to permit firing.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the firing mechanism is positively locked in safe position when the magazine is removed, it being understood that the magazine slides upwardly into the grip through an opening in the bottom thereof, and that as soon as the magazine is restored to normal position the safety means may be moved into position to permit firing by rearward pressure on the finger piece B.

I claim:

1. In a firearm of the type having a detachable magazine, a firing member, trigger-controlled mechanism for actuating saidmember, a safety device, means for actuating said device including a fingerspiece adjacent the trigger, and safety means controlled by-the magazine for preventing release of said device.

2. In a firearm of the type having a magazine movable from normal position for loading, mechanism for firing the'firearm, safety means normally rendering said mechanism inoperative, an actuator for manually moving the safety means into position to render said mechanism operative, and automatic means on the actuator for holding said actuator against movement into said position when the magazine is moved from normal position for loading.

3. In a firearm of the type having a magazine movable from normal position for loading, a firing member, a scar for holding said member in cocked position, a trigger for moving the sear out of holdingposition, a safety device, means for actuating said device including a finger piece adjacent the trigger, and a spring actuated stop engaged by the magazine for rendering said actuator inoperative when the magazine is moved from normal position for loading.

4-. In a firearm of the type having a detachable magazine, firing mechanism including a trigger member and a sear member, safety means associated with one of said members for normally rendering the firing mechanism inoperative, a separate manually operable actuator for shifting the safety means into position to render the firing mechanism operative, and a spring actuated stop automatically movable into position to prevent said manual movement of the actuator when the magazine is detached.

' 5. In a firearm of the type having a mag azine movable from normal position for loading, firing mechanism including a scar and a trigger, safety means engaging the sear for rendering the firing mechanism inoperative, and an actuator for releasing the safety means, said actuator having a magazine controlled portion locking the actuator against movement when the magazine is withdrawn. 7 r

6. In a firearm of the type having a mag azine movable from normal position for loading, firing mechanism including a scar and a trigger, means engaging the firing mechanism for renderingthe same inoperative, an actuator having a finger-piece adj acent the trigger for releasing said means, and a spring pressed abutment normally held inoperative by a magazine but'adapted to prevent movement of the-actuator when the magazine is shifted for loading.

7. In a firearm of the type having a removable magazine, firing mechanism including a shiftable safety device, an actuator coupled with the safety device, said actuator having a magazine engaging portion, and means for shifting the magazine engaging portion to lock the actuator against movement when the magazine is shifted out of engagement therewith.

8. An actuating member for a magazine firearm comprising a bar having a finger piece at one end and an actuating portion at the opposite end, and a resiliently mounted abutment member intermediately. carried by the bar, said abutment being adapted to lock the bar against movement when the magazine is withdrawn and being moved into 1noperative position when the magazine is replaced. 1 9. An actuating member for a magazine type firearm comprising a bar having a finger engaging portion at one end and an actuating portion at the opposite end, a guide carried by the bar, a spring on the guide for urging the bar in one direction, and a lock ing member on the bar adapted to limit the movement of the bar in the absence of a magazine in the firearm.

10. A firearm including a grip having a magazine receiving chamber, striker mechanism, and meansfor controlling the striker mechanism including a pair of bars slidably supported by the grip, the striker operating only on joint actuation of said bars, and a stop member carried by one of the bars for engagement with a magazine, said stop member being projectable into the magazine receiving space to prevent actuation of the bars on withdrawal of the magazine.

11. A. firearm including a grip portion having a magazine receiving chamber, firing mechanism, and means for controlling the firing mechanism including a bar slidably supported by the grip at one side of the magazine chamber, said bar having a limiting abutment laterally engaging the magazine and projectable into engagement with a Wall of the chamber to limit movement of the bar on withdrawal of the magazine, and having a finger-piece in front of the magazine for re- 10 tracting the bar. Signed by me at Springfield, Massachusetts this 14th day of July 1922.

EDWARD S. POMEROY. 

